Earnings and Low Pay in the Republic of Ireland
A paper entitled ' Earnings and Low Pay in the Republic of Ireland ' was delivered to a meeting of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland on Thursday 14th April. The slides from the presentation are below and the paper (forthcoming in the SSISI journal) was based on an earlier NERI...
70,000 workers are on the Minimum Wage
A new NERI research paper estimates the number of workers on the minimum wage and further profiles these workers by gender, by the sector they work in and by their employment status (full-time, part-time, permanent, temporary etc). The data, which is for 2014 (the latest available), complements an...
Monday Blog: Cheapness is not competitiveness
With the economic and political fallout from Brexit taking its toll voices have been raised – not surprisingly – to argue against wage increases in the Republic of Ireland. The recent National Economic Dialogue in Dublin was an occasion for such an argument with its proponents claiming to cite data...
New Paper Models a Minimum Wage Increase
The establishment of a Low Pay Commission in the Republic of Ireland and the renewed focus on low pay and a ‘living wage’ both in Ireland and the UK has revived a growing interest in policies that focus on providing adequate minimum levels of pay for all employees. A new NERI research paper from...
Monday Blog: Female participation in the Irish labour market remains below EU levels
The level and quality of employment together with the distribution of skills is central to productivity. Full employment is possible provided that public policy is directed to this as an overriding priority. When some economists speak of a ‘natural rate of unemployment’ they betray an underlying...
Tackling Economic Inequality
One could write a book, indeed volumes, on the topic of economic inequality and its possible causes, implications and remedies. In a blog (based on a short input to a recent conference) it is only possible to point towards a number of key issues; specifically six core areas relevant to our thinking...
Minimum Wage Increase - who gains?
January 1st saw a 50 cent increase in the hourly Minimum Wage; the first since 2011. The increase to €9.15 per hour follows the recommendations of the Low Pay Commission. A recent NERI Research inBrief estimates some of the effects of this increase. Specifically, it examines the average impact on...
Monday Blog: Looking to an enterprising new year at the NERI
Happy new year! The issues of happiness, sustainability and well-being will continue to exercise our attention in 2016. Regrettably Gross Domestic Product measures only some things while neglecting others. Worse still, some components of GDP may be inflated by negative human behaviour while adding...
Life on low pay – new insights
The latest NERI Research inBrief looks at those who are on low pay in the Republic of Ireland. Its key points are Low pay is more common among: - female workers; - younger workers; - those in the retail, hotel and security sectors; - single parents; and - those on temporary contracts. At the...
Changes in employment levels by sector before, during and after the recession
Recent changes in employment The latest figures from the Quarterly National Household Survey show employment increasing in almost all sectors of the economy. The stand-out figure is employment growth of 18.5 per cent in the construction sector over the twelve months ending in June 2015. A rise in...